1 in 5 wait more than four hours at Queen’s and King George A&Es
Queen's Hospital, Romford - Credit: PA Archive/Press Association Images
A&E departments at the two hospitals serving Barking and Dagenham saw fewer than 80 per cent of people within the four-hour target the week before last, latest NHS England figures show.
Now the shadow health secretary has urged the Prime Minister to “get a grip” on the problem.
The figures showed 21.3 per cent of A&E patients at Queen’s and King George were waiting to be admitted, discharged or transferred after four hours for the week ending November 16, the most recent week available. This time last year the figure was 4.9pc.
The target set by the government is for no more than 5pc of patients to breach the four-hour timeframe.
The trust said more and more people were coming into its two emergency units.
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Labour frontbencher Andy Burnham MP told the Post: “Under the Tories, hospitals in London are full to bursting.
“With thousands of people now facing longer waits for treatment at Barking, Havering and Redbridge, David Cameron needs to get a grip on the crisis.”
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A&E waiting time performance at the Romford and Goodmayes hospitals has been historically poor, but the newest figures show the situation is worse than it was a year ago – one month before Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust was thrown into special measures by a highly critical Care Quality Commission inspection.
In the four weeks to November 17 last year, 92pc of patients were seen within four hours. In the same four weeks this year, it was 80.5pc.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: “The NHS is performing well despite unprecedented demand and hospitals continue to treat the vast majority of people quickly, with around 2,000 more people every day seen within the four-hour target in A&E last year compared to 2010.”
Last week the government announced a £4million pot of cash for BHRUT to tackle winter pressures such as an A&E spike.
Medical director Stephen Burgess said new measures including more elderly beds had been introduced ahead of winter.
“In October we saw 19pc more patients in our A&E at King George than the same month last year, and it was up 10pc at Queen’s.”
He added internal data showed performance had improved “marginally” for the week following the final NHS England figure, whose data will be published next week.
